Vancouver joins list opposed to expanded Kinder Morgan pipeline

Jeff Lee, Vancouver Sun05.14.2014

Vancouver city staff rolled in to Council chambers the 15,000 page application by Kinder Morgan for new pipeline. Deputy city manager Sadhu Johnston briefed city council Tuesday, issuing a damning report about the national energy Board's consultation program. He said the city had not been given enough time to respond to the application, as was the case with other intervenors.

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Vancouver is joining a long list of municipal governments unhappy with the proposal to twin the Trans Mountain pipeline. On Tuesday, city council was handed a staff report that outlined the city’s strong opposition to the Kinder Morgan proposal.

Council received the report for information and is expected to approve it after receiving public input.

Vancouver’s position, which fits with the current council’s green agenda, adds to the growing political pressure being brought to bear on the oil transport company.

It comes just days after the Lower Mainland Local Government Association, which represents 33 municipalities and three regional districts between Yale and Pemberton, narrowly voted to oppose the proposed pipeline.

That puts Lower Mainland municipal politicians, usually pro-economic development, on the same side as aboriginal groups, environmentalists and affected landowners who question the wisdom of shipping heavy crude oil from Alberta’s oilsands.

Recent polls suggest the political opposition, being voiced in an election year, may be not be in sync with the overall public view of the project.

According to an Insights West poll conducted in January, 48 per cent of British Columbians support the proposed expansion while 43 per cent oppose it. Those levels were about the same as a year ago, according to Mario Canseco, vice-president of public affairs for Insights West. Another 11 per cent were undecided, up from three per cent in January 2013. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.6 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

Municipal governments have little power to stop the project if it gains federal approval. The only recourse opponents have is the courts, first to ask for a judicial review and then, if they don’t like the outcome of that, to file a lawsuit.

Kinder Morgan and the National Energy Board, which is reviewing the application for the $5.4-billion pipeline from Edmonton to Burnaby, said they are aware of the municipal discontent and hope to resolve those concerns during the review process.

Vancouver, however, called the NEB’s own review process inadequate and suggested the city is considering legal action to protect the public and city interests. If launched, it would be in addition to several other procedural and constitutional actions challenging the pipeline proposal.

Using uncharacteristically strong language, deputy city manager Sadhu Johnston told council that Vancouver’s carefully-crafted image as a beautiful emerald city and its efforts to build a new green economy could be severely damaged by any oil spill.

“We really believe this proposal, if allowed to move forward, would jeopardize so much work that we have undertaken for generations to make Vancouver such an amazing place to live,” Johnston said. “One spill would have a dramatic effect on conventions, tourism, filming and so much of our economy and the quality of life we have here.”

Kinder Morgan, which is based in Houston, hopes to triple the line’s capacity to 890,000 barrels of oil a day to supply offshore market. The expansion would mean as many as 40 more oil tankers entering Burrard Inlet monthly.

Johnston said the NEB’s review process appears to be stacked in favour of the project and against the public.

He told council that members the public who are not listed as interveners can’t even file a letter.

“You can come to a public hearing at council and have a voice. You have five minutes to talk. But you can’t even write a letter (to the NEB) to have a say,” Johnston told reporters. “That is a gap. That jeopardizes our democracy. No opportunity for our public, our businesses, our trade associations to have a say in this important process.”

On Monday, Vancouver filed a lengthy response to Kinder Morgan, asking more than 400 questions. Last week Burnaby sent in 1,500 questions of its own, and asked speculatively how Kinder Morgan would respond to emergencies by itself if the city refused to provide emergency services.

The province also filed 70 questions, and several other municipalities, including North and West Vancouver and Surrey, have sent questions.

Chuck Puchmayr, the president of the Lower Mainland Local Government Association, said his group is asking both the Union of B.C. Municipalities and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to call on the federal government and the National Energy Board to turn down Kinder Morgan’s proposal.

Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan said his city wants to know why its citizens should fund disaster response when Kinder Morgan has been reducing staff at its Burnaby tank farms and expecting the city to fill in the gaps.

“What are you (Kinder Morgan) going to do if we say we are not going to accept the responsibility of your development?” he asked. “If we say we are not going to absorb that responsibility, ho9-w are you going to deal with it?”

Corrigan said the city isn’t saying it won’t provide services. But it wants to know how far Kinder Morgan is willing to go to get its pipeline approved.

“We are doing what lawyers should never do, ask questions that we don’t have the answers to,” he said. “Kinder Morgan filed a 15,000 page application. We have asked 1,500 questions. We figure one question for every 10 pages is about right.”

Sara Kiley, a spokeswoman for the NEB, said she appreciated Burnaby’s questions. “Those are good questions, and if they didn’t ask them, we might very well have,” she said.

Kiley said the NEB had received submissions from 107 of the 398 approved interveners as of Monday’s deadline for the first round of questions to Kinder Morgan. The company has until June 14 to respond.

Lizette Parsons-Bell, Kinder Morgan’s spokeswoman, said the company has had a 60-year history working with municipal governments and she doesn’t expect that to change. She pledged all of the governments’ questions would be answered.

But she also acknowledged Kinder Morgan didn’t expect to satisfy everyone. “Projects of this scope and size often generate differences of opinions. We are committed to the regulatory process and we are committed to being open and providing opportunities for community engagement.”

Johnston told Vancouver council Kinder Morgan has six weeks to respond to all the questions posed by the more than 400 interveners who were granted status.

But he said there were many more people and organizations who wanted intervener status, but were rejected by the NEB. They included the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Business Council of British Columbia, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Dogwood Initiative, Macdonald-Laurier Institute and Surrey Board of Trade.

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson said he was surprised at the NEB’s process and that it was wrong to not hear from the public at large. Several councillors said they were troubled by what they said was a lack of information and planning on Kinder Morgan’s part for an oil spill. They also criticized the NEB for not being willing to consider the long-term climate change effects of fossil fuels, even though the organization will consider the potential economic benefits of a new pipeline.

City council made no decisions on Johnston’s report and referred it to Wednesday’s committee meeting, where they will hear from the public. Robertson authored a motion calling on the federal government to intervene in the NEB process and to open the hearings up to public input.

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